Does free recall moderate the effect of mental context reinstatement instructions on children's cued recall?

Cognitive Interview instructions increase children's recall of events; one important instruction is the mental reinstatement of context. We examined one factor that may affect mental context reinstatement: whether children had the opportunity to freely recall the event before answering cued recall questions. One hundred and fifty-two children aged 6, 9, or 11 years were interviewed twice about a staged event. The event consisted of an argument between two adults about whose turn it was to show the children a film. One week after the event, some of the children received mental context reinstatement instructions before having their cued recall tested. Some children also received a free recall test immediately before the cued recall test. In the second interview, 2 weeks after the first interview, all children freely recalled the event. The results showed no effects of mental context reinstatement instructions and no moderating effect of free recall on children's cued recall. The implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed.     

Does providing a written version of the police caution improve comprehension in the general population?

Abstract

Comprehension of the police caution is extremely poor across a variety of populations and jurisdictions and is particularly impaired in vulnerable populations. This has significant consequences for the admissibility of evidence in court. We investigated whether providing individuals with a written version of the caution would improve comprehension in the general population. Sixty participants (30 with low educational attainment and 30 with high educational attainment) were randomly allocated to one of three groups (Verbal presentation; Written presentation; Verbal and Written presentation). Comprehension in the three groups was evaluated using Cooke and Philip's (1998) Scottish Comprehension of Caution Instrument. Results showed that despite 95% of participants claiming to fully understand the sample caution, only 5% of individuals in the verbal presentation group demonstrated full understanding, compared to 40% and 35% in the written and combined verbal and written groups respectively. This highlights both that individuals' self-reports of understanding are higher than actual comprehension and that providing a written version of the caution may improve comprehension in the general population.     

The prosecutor's interview with suspects in South Korea

South Korean criminal trials heavily depend on the investigation dossier written by prosecutor. The judges do no more than confirm evidence in the prosecutor's interview documents. This leads to a conviction rate exceeding 99 per cent, which is one of the highest in the world. The study aims to explore the reliability of such prosecutorial interview documents and the problems caused by criminal trials depending on them. This is based on a semi-structured interview of 20 legal professionals. Prosecutors' written interview records cannot help to regulate the risk of abuse as they provide the court with quite limited and skewed information. The criminal justice system should amend the evidentiary impact of the prosecutorial interview records. Instead, it should establish a number of appropriate safeguards to protect suspects against false confessions.     

隐性采访的合法界限

中国的隐性采访虽是新生事物,却越来越普遍.在驳斥"隐性采访否定论"的基础上论证了新闻媒体有权进行隐性采访,前提是没有超出法定界限,没有侵害社会公共利益或他人的合法权益;在驳斥"采访权优先论"的基础上论证了采访权与其他各种权利是平等的,没有优于其他权利的特殊地位;最后从采访的场所、采访内容、采访方式及采访材料的处理等四个方面给出了记者进行隐性采访时自我约束的参照条件,使其始终在法律许可的范围内进行.     

Communication error management in law enforcement interactions: a receiver’s perspective

Two experiments explore the effect of law enforcement officers’ communication errors and their response strategies on a suspect’s trust in the officer; established rapport and hostility; and, the amount and quality of information shared. Students were questioned online by an exam board member about exam fraud (N_study1 ?=?188) or by a police negotiator after they had stolen money and barricaded themselves (N_study2 ?=?184). Unknown to participants, the online utterances of the law enforcement officer were pre-programmed to randomly assign them to a condition in a 2(Error: factual, judgment)?×?3(Response: contradict, apologize, accept) factorial design, or to control where no error was made. Our findings show that making (judgment) errors seem more detrimental for affective trust and rapport in a suspect interview, while no such effects appeared in a crisis negotiation. Notably, we found a positive effect of errors, as more information was being shared. The ultimate effect of the error was dependent on the response: accept was effective in re-establishing rapport and decreasing hostility, while contradict threatens it. Accept seems more effective for the willingness to provide information in a suspect interview, while apologize seems more effective for affective trust and rapport in a crisis negotiation.     

Intoxicated eyewitnesses: prevalence and procedures according to England’s police officers

Despite the apparent role alcohol plays in criminal offences, there is at present no evidence available as to the extent of the problem of intoxicated witnesses within England. To address this lack of research, police officers from seven constabularies completed an online survey addressing issues such as the prevalence of intoxicated witnesses, how officers determine intoxication, the procedures employed and their effectiveness. Officers indicated that intoxicated witnesses were a common, to very common, occurrence with most officers determining intoxication through physical symptoms and the witness’s own admission. In terms of interviewing witnesses, the majority of officers indicated that initial details were taken whilst witnesses were intoxicated, but the evidential interview was taken when sober. Officers also indicated that if the witness was intoxicated then the case was less likely to proceed to court and that officers viewed the witness as less accurate. These findings are considered from a criminal justice perspective and discussed in relation to future research.     

Sino-Swiss FTA Pushes Bilateral Relations to New Heights

正CHINA and Switzerland signed in July 2013 the Free Trade Agreement(FTA)in Beijing,so marking the culmination of more than two years of negotiations and legal processes.The f irst free trade pact between China and a country in continental Europe,the agreement came officially into effect on July 1,2014.China Today held an exclusive interview with David Braun,head of the Economic,Financial and Commercial Section of the Embassy of Switzerland in China,to discuss the FTA in greater depth.China Today:What is the signif icance of the FTA for     

China,Free Rider or Contributor？

正IN an interview early last August with the New York Times,U.S.President Obama remarked that China had been a global free rider for the past 30 years,and that the U.S.does not expect China to do anything substantial in dealing with Iraq.Obama is in fact not the first to accuse China of being a free rider in the international community.In September 2005,U.S.former Deputy Sec-